The European Law Students’ Association (ELSA) organises the Moot Court Competition on International Trade Law. This simulated hearing, created in 2000 and based on the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement system, involves not only law students from all over the world, but also numerous respected Trade Law experts and WTO legal officers.
 
The competition seeks to advance academic understanding of the WTO and its agreements, contribute to the discussion on globalisation and trade, and assist in the development of countries’ technical legal capacity through the training of new trade lawyers and negotiators. This ELSA competition further complements the formal legal education of Graduate Institute students, as it allows them to put theory into practice and to further develop their academic interests in the field of Trade Law. Students receive 6 ECTS for their participation.
 
The competition requires students to prepare written and oral arguments for two sides of a fictional WTO case involving a trade dispute. Cases in previous have involved issues of, for example, trade in counterfit medicines, trade and human rights, trade restrictions on cloned animals and questions of currency manipulation.
 
The team is associated with the Institute’s Law Unit and the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration (CTEI). The CTEI brings together the research activities of eminent professors of economics, law and political science in the area of trade, economic integration and globalization. The Centre provides a forum for discussion and dialogue between the global research community, the Institute's student body, research centers in the developing world, the international business community and international and non-governmental organizations. The Centre organizes events, publishes working papers and hosts visiting scholars.
 
The Institute team has participated with great success in the ELSA moot court competition consistently ranking among the best teams worldwide. Among the prizes won in previous years are: World Champion 2012; Winner Regional Round 2010 and multiple best written submissions and best orator awards.
 
In case you are interested in participating in our next team or simply in obtaining more information on this competition, please contact one of the Graduate Institute’s coaches and academic supervisor at the CTEI.